TRANSCULTURAL HEALTH DOMAINS

- HEALTH and the countless ways by which it is maintained, protected, and restored is the foundation of this topic.
- HEALTH connotes the balance of a person, both within one’s being—physical, mental, and spiritual—and in the outside
world—natural, familial and communal, and metaphysical.
- The HEALTH Traditions Model is a method for describing beliefs and practices used to maintain through daily HEALTH
practices, such as diet, activities, and clothing; to protect through special HEALTH practices, such as food taboos, seasonal
activities, and protective items worn, carried, or hung in the home or workplace; and/or to restore through special HEALTH
practices, such as diet changes, rest, special clothing or objects, physical, mental, and/or spiritual HEALTH.
- ILLNESS is the imbalance of the person, both within one’s being—physical, mental, and spiritual—and in the outside world
—natural, familial and communal, and metaphysical.
- HEALING is the restoration of this balance. The relationships of the person to the outside world are reciprocal.
- Health care providers have the opportunity to observe the most incredible phenomenon of life: HEALTH and the recovery,
in most cases, from illness.

HEALTH TRADITIONS MODEL

- The HEALTH Traditions Model uses the concept of holistic HEALTH and explores what people do from a traditional
perspective to maintain HEALTH, protect HEALTH or prevent ILLNESS, and restore HEALTH.HEALTH, in this traditional
context, has nine interrelated facets, represented by:
- Traditional methods of maintaining HEALTH—physical, mental, and spiritual
- Traditional methods of protecting HEALTH—physical, mental, and spiritual
- Traditional methods of restoring HEALTH—physical, mental, and spiritual
- The traditional methods of HEALTH maintenance, protection, and restoration require the knowledge and understanding of
HEALTH-related resources from within a person’s ethnocultural and religious heritage, and a reciprocal relationship exists
between the person’s needs and the available resources within the family and community to meet these needs.

TRADITIONAL HEALTH MAINTENANCE

- The traditional ways of maintaining HEALTH are the active, everyday ways people go about living and attempting to stay
well or HEALTHY—that is, ordinary functioning within their family, community, and society:
- Clothing
- Food
- Hygiene
- The keys to maintaining HEALTH are, however, the family and social support systems.
- Mental HEALTH in the traditional sense is maintained by concentrating and using the mind—reading and crafts i.e. games,
books, music, art, and other expressions of identity that help in the maintenance of mental well-being. Hobbies also
contribute to mental well-being.
- Spiritual HEALTH is maintained in the home with family closeness—prayer and celebrations. Rights of passage and kindred
occasions are also family and community events. The strong identity with and connections to the “home” community are a
great part of traditional life and the life cycle, as well as factors that contribute to HEALTH and well-being.

HEALTH PROTECTION
- The protection of HEALTH rests in the ability to understand the cause of a given ILLNESS or set of symptoms. Most of the
traditional HEALTH and ILLNESS beliefs regarding the causation of ILLNESS differ from those of the modern epidemiological
model.
- In modern epidemiology, we speak of viruses, germs, and other pathogens as the causative agents. In “traditional”
epidemiology, factors such as the “evil eye,” witches, voodoo, envy, hate, and jealousy may be the agents of ILLNESS
- Traditional practices used in the protection of HEALTH include, but are not limited to:
- The use of protective objects—worn, carried, or hung in the home.
- The use of substances that are ingested in certain ways and amounts or eliminated from the diet, and substances
worn or hung in the home.
- The practices of religion, such as the burning of candles, the rituals of redemption, and prayer.

HEALTH RESTORATION
- HEALTH restoration in the physical sense can be accomplished by the use of countless traditional remedies, such as herbal
teas, liniments, special foods and food combinations, massage, and other activities.
- The restoration of HEALTH in the mental domain may be accomplished by the use of various techniques, such as
performing exorcism, calling on traditional healers, using teas or massage, and seeking family and community support.
- The restoration of HEALTH in the spiritual sense can be accomplished by healing rituals; religious healing rituals; or the use
of symbols and prayer, meditation, special prayers, and exorcism.
HEALING TRADITIONS
- The phenomenon of seeking HEALING is observed worldwide, and every religion and ethnic group offers substantive beliefs
and practices in this genre.
- The professional history of nursing was born with
- Florence Nightingale’s knowledge (1860) that “nature heals.”
- Blattner (1981) has written a text designed to help nurses assist patients in upgrading their lives in a holistic sense
and in healing the person—body, mind, and spirit.
- Krieger (1979), in The Therapeutic Touch, has developed a method for teaching nurses how to use their hands to
heal.
- Wallace (1979) has described methods of helping nurses diagnose and deliver spiritual care.
- Buxton (1973) describes traditional beliefs and indigenous HEALING rituals in Mandari and relates the source of
these rituals with how humans view themselves in relation to God and Earth. In this culture, the healer experiences
a religious calling to become a healer. HEALING is linked to beliefs in evil and the removal of evil from the sick
person.
- Naegele(1970) describes healing in our society as a form of “professional practice.” He asserts, however, that
“healing is not wholly a professional monopoly and that there are several forms of non professional healing such as
the ‘specialized alternatives.’ ” These include Christian Science and the marginally professional activities of varying
legitimacy, such as chiropractic, folk medicine, and quackery. He states: “To understand modern society is to
understand the tension between traditional patterns and self -conscious rational calculations devoted to the
mastery of everyday life.
- Krippner and Villaldo(1976) contend that there is a “basic conflict between healing and technology ”and that
“the reality of miracles, of healing, of any significant entity that could be called God is not thought to be
compatible with the reality of science.” They further contend that healings are psychosomatic in origin and useful
only in the sense of the placebo effect.
- Bishop discusses miracles and their relationship to healing. He states that the “miracles must be considered in
relation to the time and place in which they occur.” He further describes faith and its relationship to healing and
states that “something goes on in the process of faith healing.” He also points out that healing “is the exception
rather than the rule.” HEALING through faith generally is not accepted as a matter of plain fact, but it is an event to
rejoice over